This invention relates in general to an auxiliary anti-wheel spin device for rubber tired vehicles intended to be used in case such a vehicle lacks sufficient ground adhesion to propel itself.
More specifically this invention relates to an anti-wheel spin device which utilizes the weight exerted upon non-driving wheels for its functioning and is capable of accommodating vehicles having differing wheelbases. The invention also includes a winching accessory for use when the force required to extricate the vehicle exceeds the tractive force between the device and the vehicle wheel.
Devices of this kind in current use generally comprise a pair of mattings or pads, to be placed in front of the driving wheels. Although these devices contain various types of patterns or gripping characteristics to prevent them from being propelled away from the vehicle by a spinning wheel, they have been found to be less than effective in many situations. Also these devices require substantial tooling for their manufacture, a factor which adversely affects their commercial price.
Since it appears that devices of this kind all have one or more disadvantages, an improvement obviating these difficulties is long-awaited in the field. In addition, even though the anti-wheel spin device disclosed herein utilizes transversely corrugated elastomeric material to obtain the highest practical coefficient of friction against a tire, there are predicaments - such as being in a ditch or severely mired - when the resistance of the vehicle to movement exceeds the tractive force that is developed between the traction mattings and the driving tires, resulting in tire spin.
From observing such severe situations it has been found that by the addition of the winching accessory to the anti-wheel spin device such tire spin can be eliminated regardless of the prevailing coefficient of friction. In fact, the anti-wheel spin device in combination with the rotating driving wheels, becomes a winching device.